


maxi skirt

by liliumregxle



Category: Persona 5
Genre: LET KAWAKAMI BE MOTHERLY TO AKIRA, Multi, Polythieves (Persona 5), final scene takes place during sae's palace, first fic so i apologize if characters seem ooc, futaba's not included in it because her and akira are basically brother and sister, let akira wear skirts and dresses, no p5r characters or changes included here, teen rating for swearing and very slight implications of sexual stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:55:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23487931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liliumregxle/pseuds/liliumregxle
Summary: Akira's always enjoyed dressing up in more traditionally "feminine" clothing, though he's kept it a secret from the Phantom Thieves ever since he's met them.He finally works up the courage to show his fellow Thieves.
Relationships: Kurusu Akira & Phantom Thieves of Hearts, Persona 5 Protagonist & Phantom Thieves of Hearts
Comments: 19
Kudos: 159





	maxi skirt

**Author's Note:**

> my very first p5 fic!! sorry if any character seem ooc. title is dumb and unoriginal because i can't come up with good titles. anyways atlus let akira wear more "feminine" clothing.
> 
> EDIT: KitsuneKitten made some absolutely adorable art of Akira in the outfit of the final part, please check it out! https://twitter.com/robin76227931/status/1257856003145715715?s=21

Akira stares at himself in the mirror, running his hands over the long, black, high-waisted maxi skirt, trying to smooth out the wrinkles. It’s nothing special- just a cheap, simple thing he’d bought online.

The raven crosses his arms, letting out a sigh.

“What’s wrong?” Morgana asks from his spot on the bed, his tail swishing back and forth. “It looks fine to me.”

Akira snorts. It’s not that he thinks he looks bad, or that something’s wrong with it. Hell, he thinks he looks pretty good in it. But…

“It’s just a shame,” he says, running a hand through his unruly locks. “It’s not like I’ll be able to wear it outside, or anything. It’s cute, it’s just…” he trails off, turning his focus away from the mirror and to the black not-cat sitting on his bed. “I shouldn’t have bought it. Feels like a waste, now.”

Morgana huffs, flicking his ears. “I still don’t get this whole “boys can’t wear skirts” thing,” the cat says, “when I’m back to my original form, I’m wearing whatever I want.”

“Like walking around naked with just a bandana and a belt, like you do in the Metaverse?” Akira jokes, smirking.

Morgana lets out a noise that sounds somewhere between surprise and offense, lashing his tail. “No way!” the cat shouts, bristling. 

“But, Akira….” Morgana murmurs, eyes and voice softening, “you know the Thieves wouldn’t make fun of you for this, right? Or leave you because of this?”

The black-haired boy looks down at the floorboards of the attic, twirling a piece of hair around his finger. Sure, the logical part of his brain knows this. Yusuke hadn’t even hesitated in saying that he’d dress up like a woman when Akira had joked about having too many dudes on the team. Ann had enthusiastically shown Akira the looks she liked from fashion shows, some of which included men in skirts, and when she’d joked she wanted to see Ryuji in one of the looks, the faux blonde had simply shrugged and said that if Ann wanted him to, he’d do it.

Everyone in the Phantom Thieves had proven they didn’t care about things that were outside the norm. The entirety of their roles as phantom thieves and being part of a relationship with one another only solidified that fact. If Akira came out and said “ _hey all, I like wearing skirts and dresses, please don’t make fun of me_ ”, surely there would be no ill feelings towards something as simple as his fashion sense.

But even still, Akira holds himself back, ever plagued by the voice in the back of his head that tells him the exact opposite will happen. After all, at one point in his life, he would have never assumed his parents would have shipped him off to a city 4 hours away without a second thought, that they wouldn’t even try to prove him innocent, that they would never call, never make sure he’s okay, never be there for them. And yet, here he was. Who says that those around him wouldn’t go against him again?

“Akira?” Morgana calls, breaking the raven out of his thoughts.

“I’ll sleep on it,” Akira says, planning to do the exact opposite of that.

\------------ 

_Shit._

Akira’s freaking the fuck out.

A couple hours ago, he’d asked Kawakami to come over and do his laundry. That, in itself, wasn’t anything unusual. With phantom thief business, school, studying, and part time jobs, it was hard enough to make sure he even just ate enough in the day, let alone try and do his laundry as well.

It’s one of the reasons he appreciates his teacher so much. In the time they’ve known each other, Kawakami has become an almost strange parental figure for him (or maybe more like a screwed up aunt), making sure he’s not only eating curry every day of the week. She rarely asks questions, happy to help as long as she’s paid.

But Akira’s dumb ass had forgotten to take the skirt out of his laundry basket.

The teen had decided to wear it around Leblanc a little bit more while Sojiro was out for the night and Morgana was out on a walk to check on Futaba. He’d taken some cute selfies in it, and then had made the brilliant decision to eat some curry while wearing it, and had ended up spilling some of his meal on the thing.

Akira curses his past self who had absent-mindedly thrown the black skirt into his laundry basket without a second thought.

So now, here he was. He’d gone out for a supply run, and had come back to Kawakami holding the skirt.

He sees Kawakami’s lips moving, but doesn’t hear anything as his brain rushes to think of an excuse for why he has a skirt in his laundry.

“-figured it might be Takamaki’s, because you two are close,” Kawakami says, holding the skirt out to Akira, her face serious, “what you two are doing is none of my business, but please just make su-”

“It’s mine,” Akira blurts out without thinking, snatching it from his teacher’s hands.

Kawakami is frozen in place, blinking a couple times as she processes what Akira just said. The older woman gives a small, confused smile, and quietly asks, “Pardon?”

Akira sighs, clutching the skirt to his chest. “It’s mine. I spilt curry on it while I was wearing it.” The raven explains. His body tenses, waiting for the onslaught of questions.

But instead, it never comes.

“Oh,” Kawakami’s face lights up with understanding, and she claps her hands together. “Well, I got the stain out. I was worried I’d have to give you the talk,” she chuckles, putting her hands on her hips, “I mean, you’ve probably already heard it, but-”

Akira can hardly believe what he’s hearing. “You’re not.. weirded out?” He asks quietly, eyes wide in surprise.

Kawakami lets out a laugh, waving him off. “Of course not,” she says through a chuckle, “I mean, Kurusu, look at me,” the dark haired woman says, gesturing to her maid outfit, “I’m standing here, doing my student’s laundry for him as part of my part-time maid job. You wearing a skirt is not the weirder thing in this situation.”

“But,” She reaches out, resting her hand on the younger boy’s shoulder, “do you... want me to call you something else? Use different pronouns? Anything like that?” She asks quietly, a gentle smile on her face. 

“Oh!” Akira exclaims, shaking his head. “It’s nothing like that. You’re fine,” he says, “I just… like wearing skirts, I guess. I think I look good in them. Dresses, too.” The boy explains, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’ve just never really had the confidence to go out in them, or tell other people about it. Worried they’ll think I’m weird.”

Kawakami lets out a sigh of relief. “That’s good. I’d feel terrible if I was misgendering you all this time,” the woman says. She raises her hand onto Akira’s head and gently ruffles his dark curls. “But I don’t think you have to worry about that, Kurusu. Takamaki, Niijima, even Sakamoto, they’re all good kids at heart. I don’t think they’d judge you on something as simple as that.”

“You really think so?” Akira asks quietly, eyes downward, staring at his feet.

“I really do,” Kawakami says, nodding. “Even from the outside, I can see how close all of you are. You’re too special of a kid for them to leave you for something like that, anyways.”

Akira gives a small smile. “Thanks,” he says, meeting Kawakami’s eyes, “I’ll keep it in mind.”

\------------ 

Today’s the day.

Akira’s going to show them today.

He’d sent a text out to the group chat, asking everyone to come by Leblanc so they could discuss Mementos targets. It wasn’t too much of a lie. He really did want to plan out targets. Sae’s palace was becoming more of a challenge every time they went, so any training in Mementos was beneficial to the group.

He was just also using the meeting to finally show the Phantom Thieves him in a skirt.

Akira tries to make his hair look a little less wild as he looks in the mirror, hands desperately trying to smooth his locks out. He’d gone pretty simple for his outfit, deciding to wear the black maxi skirt that had started all of this (he really had to thank Kawakami- the curry stain was completely gone). Paired with a simple black band t-shirt he’d had on hand and a thick black belt around his waist, alongside some heeled black boots, it looked pretty good. He had more ambitious looks in his closet (hell, he even had a gothic lolita dress he’d bought as a present for himself), but this was a good starting point.

He’d told Morgana to wait downstairs and tell the thieves to wait while he picked up his room a bit, but he’d heard the thieves chattering downstairs for a couple minutes now.

Taking a deep breath, he walks over to the stairs. “You guys can come up now!” He shouts down into the cafe. Ryuji shouts back, “Yeah, we’re coming!”, followed by the clambering of the others heading towards the attic.

Akira watches as his team climbs up the stairs, all talking among themselves, attention not quite falling on the raven-haired boy quite yet. He crosses his arms across his chest, nerves getting the better of him as he bites his lip in worry.

When the other’s attention finally falls on him, the thieves fall silent. Akira desperately tries to read the emotion on their faces for any type of disgust, or disapproval, any type of negative emotion.

Swallowing thickly, Akira goes to speak, but Futaba does the job for him.

“Why do _you_ look better in a skirt than I do? That’s not fair, Akira!”

The ginger pushes past the other thieves, running towards her adoptive brother. She grabs Akira by the shoulders, shaking him aggressively, “What god has blessed you with this skill, huh? It’s not fair!”

Akira’s hardly through processing that comment when Ann comes up next, her pigtails shaking as she grabs the raven’s hand. “Where’d you get that skirt? You have to send me the place you bought it!”

The thieves all start to gather around him, chattering excitedly. Ryuji wraps his arm around Akira’s shoulder, ruffling his hair, “Man, Futaba’s right. You’re able to pull off anything, dude. I swear to god,” the faux blonde chuckles.

Yusuke pipes up next. “Akira, you look quite stunning,” the blue haired boy praises, “You must let me paint you in a dress sometimes. I am sure you will look even more stunning in a gown!”

Akechi chuckles at Yusuke’s comment and smiles at Akira, a soft look he’s never quite fully seen on the brunette before. “Yusuke is right, Akira.” He says, “it’s a very flattering look on you.”

Haru nods eagerly in agreement, “You must wear things like this more! It suits you!” She says, fluffy hair bouncing as she grins.

Feeling thoroughly overwhelmed, Akira thanks whatever gods there are when Makoto pushes through, scolding the others and telling them to give the raven some space. His brain can hardly keep up with the comments, and he feels frozen in place as the others finally give him some breathing room.

Morgana snickers from his seat on the couch. “See, this is why you should always listen to me,” the cat meows, “I’m always right.”

Ryuji moves to go in for a snark response, but pauses when he hears a gasp from Haru. Turning back, Ryuji’s face lights up with surprise, and Akira realizes why.

The raven reaches up and touches his cheeks, surprised when he feels tears running down them. Surprised, he lets out a gross, snotty laugh.

Makoto reaches towards him, face filled with worry. “Is everything alright? Did someone say something that upset you?”

Akira laughs, shaking his head. “Not at all,” he says, smiling. “I’m just… feeling so dumb. All this time, somehow, my brain kept telling me you guys would think I’m weird for this,” the boy says, sniffling, “I’ve always liked dressing up in skirts and dresses and stuff. Even before we all met,” Akira explains, rubbing at his face with the back of his hand. “So I’m just glad I can finally show you guys.”

Looking up and laughing, he’s surprised to see Ann on the verge of tears. “Oh, Akira!” She wails, launching herself onto the boy and wrapping her hands around his shoulders. The boy lets out a surprised noise, losing his balance and promptly falling onto his ass. It hurts, but he laughs, returning the hug.

The thieves follow suit, gathering around and sitting on the dusty attic floor together. Akira’s surprised to even see Akechi, who’s only been a part of the group dynamic for a couple weeks now, sit down as well.

“Akira,” Haru says, reaching out and grasping the boy’s hand. “You really shouldn’t be afraid to tell us these things,” the girl says softly, running her thumb over the raven’s fingers soothingly.

“Haru’s right, man,” Ryuji says, crossing his arms. “We wouldn’t leave you ‘cause of something as simple as this.”

The others let out noises of agreement, and Akira lets out a sigh.

“I know,” he mumbles, “but after my parents did everything I thought they wouldn’t do back then… It’s hard to think otherwise.” He confesses. “I didn’t want to risk it.”

“Forgive my language,” Makoto speaks up, “but frankly, your parents have always been pretty shitty, have they not?”

Akira snorts, raising his hand to play with a stray piece of Ann’s hair. “Yeah, I guess so.” He agrees, “Thank you guys. I love you all.”

Before anyone has a chance to reply, Futaba, in all her glory, makes a gagging sound. “You guys are wayyy too lovey-dovey for your own good.” She proclaims. “Come on, we still have Phantom Thief business to do.”

“Mmm, no way,” Ann grumbles, still hanging off of Akira, “Five more minutes.”

The Phantom Thieves laugh, and in that moment, Akira is more thankful for his fellow thieves than he’s ever been before.

**Author's Note:**

> akira's outfit in the final scene looks like [this](https://i1.adis.ws/i/boohooamplience/agg67981_black_xl?%24product_image_main_mobile%24)!


End file.
